Then Comes Marriage
by missjustkeepwriting
Summary: Their daughter's marriage approaches and they have to reveal something about their relationship. Morgan/Reid/Prentiss


**A/N: I don't own **_**Criminal Minds. **_**I would love to hear what you think. **

Emily's phone trills on the end table. Her heartbeat accelerates; it's after eleven on Friday evening. Good things do not happen when the phone rings that late. Derek glances at her over his reading glasses with concern. She looks at the display and LOTTIE is emblazoned across it.

"It's Charlotte," she says quizzically.

"Answer it," Derek demands; nervousness edging into his voice.

"Hello?"

"Hey momma," Charlotte's voice comes softly over the speaker, "Can we talk?"

"Of course, baby."

Emily gets up and walks to the kitchen, she passes Spencer in the hallway who looks at her confusedly, and she mouths 'Charlotte' to him. His eyebrows crinkle, but he lets her walk to the kitchen undeterred.

"What's going on?"

"Ash proposed," she responds.

"I know he came over for dinner and asked if he could."

"And you said yes?" Charlotte's voice is overpoweringly critical and flabbergasted.

"I'm sorry if we misinterpreted your relationship, but Charlotte, I was sure you loved Asher."

"I do, but I don't want to marry him."

"Baby, consider me confused."

"Do you love," and then Emily realizes where the conversation is headed and what had caused her daughter's apprehension, "Papa and Daddy?"

"You know I do."

"But none of you are married. I've never even heard a murmur about marriage."

"Lottie, that's different; you know that's different. People have been telling you all your life how weird and different we are. Why are you taking now as the opportunity to treat us like the beacon of conventional relationships?"

"Because you're the only relationship that I see that works…because I want a relationship like yours."

"O, baby."

"Don't baby me, I'm being as rational as I can. I don't want to get divorced. Everybody else is divorced. You three have been together forever and you aren't even married. Marriage just seems like asking for doom."

"Charlotte, they wouldn't let us get married. If I could've legally married both of your fathers, I would've in a heartbeat," Emily says surely, contemplates and adds softly, "I still would."

"Well, if you can't get married, then I don't want to be married."

"While that sounds sweet, don't be like that; don't use us as an excuse to not face your fears. If you truly don't want to marry Ash, then you need to have a conversation with him and not put up some martyred façade."

"What made him think I wanted to get married?"

"Maybe, he was thinking about how much he wanted to be married to you."

"I hate you."

"Come over for dinner tomorrow."

"Okay."

"I love you, Lottie."

Charlotte groans at the name, but replies, "I love you too, Momma."

Emily hangs up and leaves her phone on the kitchen counter. She heads back into the living room where Derek and Spencer are both looking anxious.

"She's fine," Emily begins and they both sigh, "but the proposal that we thought would go off without a hitch, hit a snag."

"What?" Spencer asks incredulously, he called Asher as future son-in-law the day they met him.

"Us."

"Us?" Spencer and Derek chorus.

"Yes, we are the snag in their otherwise fairytale nuptials."

"Damn, Charlie."

"Yep, she thinks we're the perfect relationship."

"And we're not married," Spencer concludes.

"Ding-ding-ding we have a winner."

"We have to tell her, don't we?"

"She's coming to dinner tomorrow."

"She's going to hate us for not telling her sooner."

"But maybe she'll be able to find her happiness."

BREAK

"I'm here," Charlotte warbles as she comes through the front door.

"Hey baby girl," Derek says, wrapping her in a hug and kissing the top of her head.

"Daddy, where's Momma and Papa?"

"Finishing up dinner."

They walk together to kitchen. Emily is pouring meatballs and sauce over spaghetti and Spencer is pulling a tray of garlic bread out of the oven. Derek grabs a bottle of wine and four glasses.

"I'm not sure if I should be happy or apprehensive that you've made my favorite," Charlotte kids; when none of them laugh she adds, "Well that's not reassuring."

They eat in relative silence; the chit-chat is innocuous. Spencer talks about his classes and Charlotte talks about the engineering project she's working on. When the plates have been cleared and they move to the living room, Charlotte eyes her parents.

"What's up?"

"Why don't you want to marry Asher?" Spencer asks seriously.

"I told Momma already."

"But now I want you to tell all of us."

"It's just that I haven't seen marriages work well, and the best relationship I know isn't a marriage."

"That's not true," Derek scoffs.

"What?"

"You know plenty of good marriages."

"Name three."

"JJ and Will, Hotch and Beth, Bobby and Marissa," Derek lists quickly and smirks at his daughter.

"But they're not you guys."

"And we're not perfect," Emily says shortly.

"Yes, you are."

"Baby girl, we're really not."

"I've never seen you guys truly fight. Sure, you have arguments, but you've never been malicious to each other."

"That's a lie."

"You've never fought like Ash's parents do. They're divorced and spiteful. I don't want that to happen to me and Ash."

"That's because you don't remember," Spencer responds softly.

"Huh?"

"You don't remember, but I didn't live here for almost a year."

"What?"

"You were a baby, and in the long run, it didn't really matter but it happened."

"You left?"

"Papa didn't leave willingly; I kicked him out," Derek interrupts.

"Dad?"

"Momma and Papa have never held it against me or told you, but I told Papa to leave. I still regret it to this day; he missed out on parts of your life that I can never give back to him. Every relationship has its obstacles."

Spencer puts his hand on the back of Derek's neck.

"But you still left, Papa?"

"Yes."

"You told Papa to leave and you left," she says looking between them. They both nod. She just stares at them before she walks out of the room.

Emily finds her sitting on the bench in the foyer.

"Charlotte, it was a long time ago."

"I don't care; why didn't you tell me?"

"Because we're your parents and it was a long time ago."

"Those are bullshit excuses and you know it. I'm an adult; you should've told me the minute I could understand it," She throws her hands up, "I need to go home."

"You've been drinking and you're emotional; I'm not going to let you drive."

"I'll call Ash."

Emily waits with Charlotte in silence. Asher comes to the door, he looks weary, and Charlotte wraps her arms around his neck. Asher kisses her head and they leave arm-in-arm. Emily returns to the living room.

"I think she'll say yes," She assesses, and both men smile.

"But will we be invited?" Spencer asks, and it would be funny if Emily and Derek weren't thinking the same thing.

BREAK

They're invited all right, but Charlotte hasn't talked to her fathers in months. She talks to Emily but only begrudgingly. Derek and Spencer are going crazy. They're heartbroken when Emily tells them that Charlotte asked her to walk her down the aisle.

The day of her wedding, Emily heads back to the bride's dressing room and leaves Derek and Spencer in the front row of the bride's section. As she's lacing Charlotte's dress, Charlotte glances down at her phone smiles and grimaces, and looks at her in the mirror.

"Will you please go get Papa and Dad?"

"Right now?"

"Yeah."

Emily power walks into the chapel, looks remorsefully at Asher who waves her off, and gestures at Derek and Spencer to follow her.

"I'm still really mad at you," she says as they walk through the door and they nod. "But Ash is right, I don't want to get married when you guys are so sad and we're fighting. He texted me; it said, 'Your dads look so pathetic and sad out here I just want to hug them. I know it's none of my business and I'll support you either way but I think it would be nice if you forgave them or maybe just a reprieve for the wedding.' He loves you guys and it's kind of ridiculous, but it's why I'm marrying him. I still want Momma to walk me down the aisle because there's no way all three of you can and I am still mad, but I love you guys. I always will. There's just so much we need to talk about and I can't believe you would do that to me. I've measured all my relationships up to yours and they've always fallen short. I thought that was my fault."

"I'm sorry, Baby Girl," Derek replies, "I didn't want you to know because I didn't want you to hate me."

"Just trust me next time, okay?"

"Of course, Charlotte."

They return to the chapel, but before they sit down they hug Asher.

"Thanks," Derek whispers as he thumps the younger man on the back.

"We're family now," Asher responds, and Derek smiles and nods.

Emily and Charlotte are beautiful as they walk down the aisle together; Charlotte hugs and kisses both of them with tears all-around before Emily hands her off to Asher.

**A/N: I love feedback! Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed **_**It Tastes Like Grief. **_**I haven't decided if I am going to continue that one-shot. Thanks to Annabeth24, Jackie6416, JustSmileAndBeHappy, Guest, dcatt, ohspencermyspencer, MarineLvr84, A1ficitiongrl, Moreid Shipper, pipinheart, Wainwright, ilovereid, and shematthewaholic. I really enjoyed all your reviews! **


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